Mayoral candidate Paula Ryan wins police union endorsement

Ryan, a housing development professional and former city consultant who unexpectedly entered the field in October, scored a major endorsement on Tuesday. She won the backing of the Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association, an organization that has been fighting the city for two years on contractual disagreements.

“Of all the candidates, Paula seemed like she was taking the city in the right direction,” police union treasurer Lou Penque said. “She feels comfortable in going over the issues of misspending, and she seemed to have a good grasp of financial issues.”

The endorsement wasn’t a huge surprise, since Penque previously said the union wouldn’t back a sitting city commissioner. The other two candidates actively campaigning, Molly Douglas and Jeri Muoio, are both on the commission.

However, the union’s relationship with the city has improved slightly since the police protest of SunFest. In May, the police spent four days picketing the city’s biggest music festival. Mayor Lois Frankel’s son, Ben Lubin, was arrested during the protest for stealing an anti-Frankel sign from a protester.

On Tuesday, Penque said the union’s endorsement board equally considered all three candidates.

“We were open minded at the screening, we asked questions and after evaluating all the answers we felt she was the best candidate to go with,” Penque said. “She’s an outside person that’s a new fresh face, but she had a good understanding and a good grasp of what’s going on, and how to take care of issues that will take the city in the right direction.”

Ryan said she was proud to have the police union’s support.

“They’re a major component of the city’s budget, they’re defenders of the city’s residents and they’re a very important group,” Ryan said. “They trust in my ability to act as an honest broker in what are obviously tough negotiations.

Ryan and Penque both said no promises were made.

“I am going to be honest and open and transparent, and I’m going to talk honestly about what are very hard problems,” Ryan said. “In this day and age there is not enough money to say there’s an easy solution, throw money at it. The police know that. They want to make sure they got somebody sitting at the table they’re negotiating with that they’re comfortable with.”

The police union has supported every winning candidate since West Palm went to a strong mayor system, including Frankel (twice), Joel Daves (in 1999, but not in his 2003 reelection campaign against Frankel) and Nancy Graham. The union has endorsed losing city commission candidates, including Jeanette Horn’s failed campaign to unseat Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell in 2004.

Douglas, who won the fire union endorsement last week, said, “They did have some incumbent resistance I think, but at the end of the day they made their selection. It’s early in the election and they haven’t really gotten to know the candidates and haven’t really investigated their credentials as they should.”

Muoio, who is being supported by Frankel, is now 0-for-2 in major endorsements.

“With both police and fire I told them the truth, and that was that we’re all going to have to tighten our belts and figure out how we’re going to deal with the issues of pensions and other negotiated issues, and they weren’t prepared to hear that,” Muoio said. “I really feel like now I’m not beholden to the unions. They endorse people so those people do what they need to do, and I have to protect taxpayers’ money.”

Frankel said the police union’s endorsement will only matter if they are willing to spend big money to back Ryan. Penque said the union would campaign for her.

“I think the police are upset that the two city commissioners did not give them raises,” Frankel said. “It’s really hard to say how much the endorsement will help, there are so many dynamics in a race. It depends on the resources that are brought.”

In a race where candidates are having trouble raising money, Ryan has managed to largely catch up to Douglas and Muoio in fundraising. Ryan’s husband, Cliff Hertz, is a politically connected Palm Beach County attorney for Broad and Cassel, which has helped in fundraising.

The police endorsement, Ryan said, should give the campaign an added financial boost.

“Anybody of that magnitude that endorses a campaign provides a sense of legitimacy to the candidate,” Ryan said. “It’s not like they don’t have the resources to back the candidate.”